TRAACA Square Car Tour

[MattDoscher]

The Tidewater Region held its 15th annual Square Car Tour this past Saturday.  Following Friday’s deluge of rain and severe weather the skies broke allowing for nice driving conditions.  Twenty four vehicles participated and we began the day by meeting at a club members home in for coffee, donuts and socializing.  After a brief driver’s meeting by Terry Bond we departed and were on our way.  Richard and Sandy Hall served as road scouts driving several car lengths ahead of the group ensuring safe road conditions.  The tour was officially led by Terry Bond in his 1914 Model T Ford.  Our route consisted of country backroads through southern Chesapeake and Virginia Beach and northern Currituck County in North Carolina.  We had a scheduled pit stop at the Northwest River Park to allow for folks to stretch their legs and enjoy the scenery.  We had to dodge a few low lying spots in the roads along our route containing standing water but we all made it through.  We had a second pit stop scheduled for Munden Point Park in Virginia Beach but to get there we had to cross the Intracoastal Waterway (North Landing River) via Pungo Ferry Rd but there was a low spot on Pungo Ferry holding too much water for safe passage so each car made a u-turn and we circled back to Blackwater Trading Post for an impromptu rest stop.  Following our rest stop we continued on making our way to Angie’s Restaurant for our scheduled 2PM lunch.  Everyone arrived safely and without incident and enjoyed a hearty lunch.  Thankfully the weather held out allowing for us to get our Tour in because as most folks were leaving Angie’s the rain began to fall once again. 

[oldcarfudd]

Looks like a good mix of cars and a pretty area for touring.  But what's a Square Car Tour?

[MattDoscher]

It's a tour where the older square shaped automobiles lead the way followed by progressively newer year automobiles.  In this case a 1914 Model T led the tour followed by a 1929 Model A and 1929 Buick, and progressively getting newer with a 1990 Ford Ranger at the very end.

[Terry Bond]

I'll provide a little history on this event, and yes, it's certainly ok if other groups want to clone the idea -

Years ago, we began to notice that older cars were not touring like they once did, so we decided that Tidewater Region would create a special activity to help encourage use of the earlier vehicles.  Thus the "Square Car" tour was born.  Like Matt says, it's intended for good old fashioned "square" shaped vehicles, like the Model Ts, As, and cars that are generally more boxy and square shaped.  Of course we do allow those with modern cars to participate, but our only rule is that they need to bring up the rear, and try to keep up if they can.  (I've been told the Model T was running around 45Mph again this year). 

It's a simple tour, laid out on back roads with very little traffic, beautiful farm country to see, and as few stop signs as possible.  This corner of Chesapeake and North Carolina still have a lot of wide-open space and lots of scenic winding roads to choose from.   We usually start at the home of a club member who has room to gather for coffee and donuts before we start.  For those who wish to trailer in a vehicle we always ensure there is some room to park the rig.   We've had a lot of fun doing this - it's as casual as can be, with a late lunch stop at a local family restaurant for a good meal and more fellowship.  We managed to get the weather arranged about right again this year, but except for some flooded roads that necessitated a slight detour, we did just fine.  Some of these roads we've covered previously, but we discovered that if you just drive on them from the other direction, it's a different road with different things to see.  it's great to slow down, enjoy the smell of the country (except where they were fertilizing a field), and enjoy the fellowship of our Tidewater Region members.  Thanks Matt, the pics are great.

We've already got a route in mind for next year!

Terry

[oldcarfudd]

Sounds like a good way to get older cars out.

[Terry Bond]

It's been one of our easiest events to organize and it does provide a day's fun in the old cars.  Turnout varies and we also invite the local Model A and T guys too.  This year we sandwiched it between some nasty rains with flooded roads and cool temps but still had a decent number attending.  As the Buzzies say - "touring is not a spectator sport."

Motor-on!

Terry